How-To Restore Your iPhone From iCloud

Backing up your iPhone and other iDevices is critical to maintaining the health of your iPhone–and your peace of mind. Knowing that your information is available, even in worst case scenarios is why we recommend backing up, preferably following our 2X2 rule (2 cloud and 2 local backups.) Backing up regularly makes restoring your iPhone a breeze!

So if your iPhone or other iDevice is experiencing problems, restoring your iDevice just might be your best option to get your iPhone back into shape and good health.

Restoring your iPhone or other iDevice is fairly easy, just follow a few steps and your done!

Perform a Restore

From the apps Apps & Data screen, tap Restore from iCloud Backup, then sign into iCloud

Tap“Choose backup,” then select your iDevice’s backup from a list of available backups in iCloud

A progress bar appears with time remaining as iCloud restores your data. Stay connected and wait for a progress bar to complete. Depending on the size of the backup and your network’s speed, this could take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour plus to complete. Disconnecting from Wi-Fi causes the progress to pause until you reconnect.

Once your apps start downloading, you are able to use your iDevice even as content (apps, photos, music,etc) continues to restore. Depending on the amount of information there is, downloading content takes place in the background for hours and possibly days. Follow best practice and connect your iDevice to Wi-Fi AND power to let the process complete.

To verify that the restore is finished, go to Settings> iCloud> Storage & Backup.

Perform a Manual iCloud Backup

You should always set your iCloud to backup automatically. However, there are certain times when you want to perform a backup to iCloud immediately. Fortunately, there are options for backing up NOW.

Go to Settings menu

Tap Settings > iCloud

Scroll down and tap Backup

Check that iCloud Backup is on

Tap Back Up Now

When the Back Up Now option is grayed out, check that you are connected to WiFi. If connected via a public internet network, there may be restrictions in place that make iCloud Backup unavailable.

When possible, contact a system administrator or IT department for assistance. If that’s not possible, try a different WiFi network or wait until you are connected to a known WiFi network (such as your home or office.)